Never this season has it been more important for the Steelers to adhere strictly to the 24-hour rule. That's the rule where teams are allowed just 24 hours to celebrate or mourn the just completed game before turning their attention to the next one. Because of where they are in their schedule and what they have immediately in front of them, what happened in Philadelphia is of no consequence.
The 27-13 loss to the Eagles dropped the Steelers to 10-4, but they still have a 1-game lead in the AFC North, and because Miami and Indianapolis both lost on Sunday, they clinched a playoff spot in the AFC. But because they have that 1-game lead in the division, the Steelers can clinch the AFC North with a win in Baltimore.
As a division champion, the Steelers will get hats and T-shirts to commemorate the accomplishment, which will be nice to wear for about as long as it takes them to get home. But also as a division champion they earn a more favorable seeding into the postseason that for them will begin with a home playoff game in the Wild Card Round against an opponent other than the Chiefs or the Bills.
And since seeding determines the opponent, and with better seeding going to the division champions, beating the Ravens is a step along the way toward changing how they'll be labeled from "getting into the playoffs" to "winning in the playoffs."
"We've got to learn from it," said Cam Heyward. "We're not afforded a lot of time. We've got to have a memory like a goldfish. We've got to move on. Not to say we don't respect who we just played. The clock is ticking. Guys have got to get right. We've got to learn from our mistakes and move on."
The mistakes that cost them in Philadelphia are mistakes they have made earlier in this regular season, and while that can be disappointing and frustrating at the same time, it's necessary to factor in the degree of difficult. The reality is that the Eagles currently are one of the two best teams in the NFL, and after Buffalo hung up 197 rushing yards, 559 total net yards, and 48 points that included 6 touchdowns on the previously 12-1 Lions in Detroit, they have an argument as the best team in the NFL. Right now, anyway.
Chuck Noll was fond of answering either/or questions from the media with versions of the following: "That's like asking, 'How would you rather die? In a fire or by drowning?'" That's what the Eagles offer their opponents with an offense that contains 1,600-yard rusher Saquon Barkley and his 11 touchdowns along with receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith who came to the party with 1,389 yards receiving and 9 touchdowns. Which element deserves more of a defense's resources and attention? How do you want to die?
The Steelers did a better-than-decent job with Barkley, who finished the game with 65 yards rushing on 19 attempts (3.6 average) and no touchdowns to go along with an innocuous 9 yards receiving. And besides a 22-yard run, Barkley was as quiet as he had been in any game this season.
But Jalen Hurts was efficient, accurate, and careful with the football, and behind an offensive line that is talented, physical, experienced, and savvy with "hand usage," Brown and Smith were a two-headed ticking time bomb. They combined for 5 plays of between 20-22 yards but nothing longer than that, and each receiver got into the end zone once. All in all, not a disastrous outcome.
Which brings us back to a topic that's been a prickly theme throughout this season – the necessity of having an offense that score in the 30s. Consistently. Or at least having an offense that's able to push the number close enough to 30 so that the opponent isn't able to get comfortable and go low-risk for hunks of the game, both offensively and defensively.
On back-to-back possessions in the first quarter, the offense was set up by takeaways – one coming from special teams when Mark Robinson forced a fumble on a punt return and Nick Herbig recovered it, and the other coming from the defense when T.J. Watt punched the ball out of Hurts' hands and Beanie Bishop recovered it. All the Steelers got from those was a 37-yard field goal by Chris Boswell.
The first half ended with the Steelers having 7 possessions and being plus-2 in turnover ratio, but the offense had only 80 total net yards and 1 touchdown (13 points total thanks to a 49-yard field goal with 37 seconds left in the second quarter).
The touchdown came on a sweet catch in traffic by Pat Freiermuth in the end zone, but just one of those never is going to be enough to beat a team as loaded as the Eagles. The Steelers being unable to take advantage of their circumstances early in the game let them off the hook.
Then this is what happens when you let a team on a 9-game winning streak that's playing at home off the hook: Taking the second half kickoff, the Eagles went on a 13-play drive that ate 7 minutes off the game clock and ended with a field goal that upped their lead to 20-13, and then after the Steelers' turned the ball over on a Najee Harris fumble on a first-and-10 from the Philadelphia 26-yard line 4 plays later, the Eagles drove 74 yards in 13 plays and ate up another 6:33 off the clock with Hurts' 1-yard tush-push making it 27-13 two plays into the fourth quarter.
Ballgame.
By the time their charter flight crossed the Commonwealth and landed in Pittsburgh, it was Monday. Four days after that they're scheduled to board another flight that will take them to Baltimore for their most important game of the season.
"There's bigger fish to fry," said Heyward. "We're not just trying to squeeze into the playoffs. It's nice to know that we don't have to wait until Week 18 to figure out if we're in the playoffs or not. We have a playoff team. We've known that before this game. We played a quality playoff opponent. We didn't have our best showing, but there's a lot of ball in front of us. We've got AFC North championship ball in front of us. We have a chance to play an MVP caliber team with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. And with this quick turnaround, it's not circling the wagons. It's let's get it together because we've got to get going. Not a lot of time is afforded to us."
Not a lot of time that is best spent on tomorrow instead of wasting it by bemoaning yesterday. Because face it, they were going to have to beat the Ravens in Baltimore regardless of what they did in Philadelphia.
